Wednesday, December 10, 2014

I got a small number of James Hoffmann's brand new book for sale in the shop. Great for all interested in coffee. The book contains a section with coffee brewing instructions from the World Barista Champion and perhaps more interestingly; a large section going through the coffee producing countries of interest to the speciality coffee world - history, growing conditions and preferred varieties, general taste characteristics and more.
(Dec. 29 '14. Sold out)

Thursday, November 27, 2014

This bean is fantastic. You can empathize the acidic rhubarb by under extration and lowering the TDS - or you can achieve an syrupy berry focus by targeting a super high %TDS and extraction % (like I prefer at the moment). You get an amazing mouthfeel and intense aroma this way.

If you move beyond 22% EXT at home, make sure you have a good grinder. There should be no bitterness in this drink.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Ed Ruscha's is not a photographer per se, thus his photography is very conceptual and thematically and stylistically as far away from the works of Vivian Maier as you can possibly imagine (as seen in the background of the picture above).

I have put out "Los Angeles Apartments" and "Photographer". These books will certainly not be appreciated by everyone, but if you are open minded, it is definitely worthwhile giving these books a look for a view into how a very interesting and important artist uses photography. Most of the photographs are done several decades ago, but remains fresh.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

If you, like me, want to have your coffee waterholes mapped out before travelling to new locations, I'd offer you a little help - if your trip goes to Copenhagen that is. This is not a definitive guide, but merely my personal favorite spots.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

I have put 3 books by the Japanese photographer Hiroh Kikai on display in the shop. Kikai has spent most of his life documenting the off-beat side of Tokyo, which has resulted in an amazing body of work. The 3 books in the shop are Asakusa Portraits, Tokyo Portraits and Labyrinthos.

Take a comfortable seat, and enjoy the books with a good cup of coffee.

In the cup you will find notes of peach and apricot wrapped in a creamy mouth-
feel of pineapple and other yellow tropical fruits.

At 179 DKK per 250 gram, you may understandably argue that it is expensive, but compared to what?
It is not more than a bottle of interesting wine will cost you, but the coffee will give you more volume of exquisite quality and last longer after opening; which translate to more joy!!

If you just want to try a taste, I'll serve it by the cup for 45 DKK during the coming week.

This is not a coffee that will be standard inventory, so try it now if you are interested.

British micro roaster Has Bean has an excellent reputation of providing delicious roasted beans to some of the worlds best baristas.
In 2011 they roasted for World Barista Championship winner; Alejandro Mendez from El Salvador and this year; three of the WBC 2014 national champions (France, Ireland and UK) are using Has Bean coffee in the finals in Rimini, Italy.
I am very happy to be offering Has Bean as the primary espresso from the end of next week. The espresso arrived just out of the roaster and need a little time to de-gass. I do have some fresh bags on the shelfes if you can't wait and would like to try it out at home.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Forloren Espresso is about good coffee, but I am also aiming to create a small space in the inner city of Copenhagen where you can relax and have a break.

If you drink your coffee in the shop and if you are interested in a little help to let your mind wander; you can browse through some of the photographic art books I have put on the shelves.

Every month I will feature a photographer/book worthy of an extra look, and for July I have chosen 3 books of Vivian Maier's work.
Vivian Maier, Street Photographer, 2011
Vivan Maier, Out of the Shadow, 2012
Vivan Maier, Self-Portraits, 2013

The story of Vivian Maier is emotionally engaging on many levels, but more importantly; she produced great photographs. She would likely have received recognition in her own time; had she only wanted to share her amazing photographs when she was alive. Apparently she didn't, and it was a lucky accident for art lovers that led to the discovery of the photographs as explained in the link above.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Both micro roasters have received a lot of well deserved positive press in the past year(s).

I serve a variety of Drop's brilliant coffees prepared in Kalita Wave, and will soon also have one on the Espresso menu.

From Coffee Collective, I have chosen Daterra Sweet Collection for espresso due to the amazing way TCC have chosen to roast it; sweet and nutty with low acidity and yet modern and refreshing.
Finally I have chosen their Kieni from Nyeri, Kenya, also brewed in Kalita Wave - one of the most delicious fruity coffees I know.
If you come by on hot day, I can recommend Kieni brewed on ice!

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Excuse the mess :) A few days ago Alex Skovgaard (Coffee Solution) connected the NS machine to the BWT RO system, and I can now finally calibrate the machine settings & grinders, and fine tune the workspace layout.

Prior to that, Peter Danker (Jesper Sjøberg VVS) and the BWT guys used the better part of a day to direct the water to the right outlets, which is not as simple as it may sound: Not all water needs to be mineralised, but water right out of the RO is slightly acidic, thus some of the tubing must be made from costly corrosion resistant materials. I also required a redundant system, allowing traditional filtering in case the RO system becomes inoperative.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

More than 98% of a cup of black coffee is water. Needless to say, the quality of the water makes a difference.
The water in Copenhagen is not bad tasting, but it is hard and full of minerals with adverse effects on the more refined coffee flavours.
I was happy to find out that BWT recently got an reverse osmosis (RO) system approved for food use in Denmark. It was announced last weekend at FoodExpo in Herning, and I hope to one of the first to have one of these systems up and running.

Reverse Osmosis basically removes all minerals from the water and leaves only H2O - that process is not in itself attractive, as we do need minerals in water for it to taste good - also when infused with tea and coffee.
The water must therefore be re-mineralised - after the RO filtering. This will allow for a high level of control of what types of minerals will end up in the water used for my beverages.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Niels Winther Hestbech of KaffeMekka delivered an important batch of machinery today (the stuff i tried to visualize in cardboard the other day)
No unpack video, I'm affraid, but a few snaps to share my excitement:

The hot and newly rediscovered classic grinder "EK43" is seriously heavy. The production principles behind this grinder are as old as the grinder looks; from a time where good stuff was made in Germany, by hand, of metal. I kid you not: Good lifting technique is required!

Totally bling! Below is a 2 group Nuova Simonelli, the model used for the World Barista Championships. It has an amazing temperature control system: one in the huge steam boiler, one in each of the boilers dedicated for each group, and even dedicated temperature control of each of the (massive) group heads. The machine allows brewing at different temperatures at each group head.

Can't wait to get the stuff up and running, but hookup awaits the water processing system I am hoping to get really soon.

Friday, February 14, 2014

I have to place some pretty big machines in the small space of the shop and it is really hard to imagine how I can create a welcoming space; should I face the costumer and have a huge machine separating us, or should I turn my back towards them for the time it takes to produce the beverage?

Today I build some dummy machines in cardboard, just to get the HxWxD feel of the objects.

I am sure you could guess that it is a Mazzer Robur grinder in the middle? ;)
The "tower" to the right is also a grinder. It was the last dummy I made, and I got a little lazy - it is supposed to be this one.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

I have always taken pride in not owning a car. As an office worker, it is not so much of a sacrifice when you live in central Copenhagen with easy access to everything and when you have no kids to drop off at the kinder garden.

With a small business to run, and what seems to be a million things to move around; subway and busses are not as convenient as they once were.